The Assassins & The Lost Kingdom
by sleepintherain
Summary: Sam never died. They killed Jayne and Farren and now they're out to the southern continents. And they are looking to the Assassin's Guild of there in order to be able to afford living, since any other thing wasn't working. Now, to prove to the master that their worth of joining the Keep, they'll have to adventure in the biggest task they'd ever had to take. Find a lost kingdom.
1. Chapter 1

Celaena awoke to the heavy steps of Sam entering the apartment on the middle of the night. She couldn't afford to think about the job that he had taken to sustain them for the month. They were far away from Rifthold, far away from Adarlan and Arobynn, and the Assassin's Keep. All that was left of them there was their names, as the two greatest assassins who murdered Farren and Jayne and who were never to be seen again. They had sailed away that same night, watching the break of dawn from the docks. Now they were somewhere in the southern continents, and Celaena had no idea why. She didn't want to leave Erilea. Now, Sam was fighting in a pit of the city in exchange for gold, just like he was fighting in Rifthold, and she couldn't stand that. She knew she wanted to be away from Assassin's Guild for good, and she told Sam a billion times about that. A billion times to make him stop _begging_ her to search for the Assassin's Guild of the southern continent, but if that was the only thing they were good at, the only thing that would do to make Sam stop fighting in the pit, than Celaena would start to reconsider. She knew Sam would kill her.

She heard him entering the room, keeping the lights off because he didn't want to wake her up. She pretended to be asleep for that time. She saw his magnificent body as he stood against the open window and took off the black tunic, leaving his bare chest to glow against the moonlight. His pants were down to his hips, and Celaena studied every inch of it.

"Hey" he said noticing she was awake "I thought I asked you not to wait up"

"I couldn't sleep" she said sitting on the bed "Sam, I think is time we start looking for the Assassin's Guild"

"What?" He said pulling off his pants and jumping on the bed. Celaena felt his warm, soft skin as he sat beside her "You said…"

"I know what I said!" she just didn't scream because she didn't had he energy for that. She was very tired "but…" She couldn't complete the sentence. She looked to his face. He had a bruise on his eyebrow and a cut lip. She danced her hands down to his face and he closed his eyes.

"Celaena, I'm okay. You know that. I _let_ them hit me otherwise it wouldn't be a fair fight"

"Then make it a dirty fight!" she told him, sitting straight.

"You know I can't" Sam said with his voice soft. It was amazing how he could keep his calm in every single moment "the owner won't let me fight if I don't make it fair"

"It is _fair._ You don't have fault if you're better than everyone in there"

"Is it fair that those people in there are fighters and I'm a professional killer? In fact, second best of the King of Assassins?"

"You don't know where the others came from…"

"I know they're not professional killers."

"Neither are you. We're not anymore"

"You just considered searching for the Assassin's Guild of here!"

"Because I don't want you fighting anymore in that pit! Those are all dirty mans. Drunks with no family and friends and spent their lives like that. The pit is everything for them. Gods know what they would do with you"

"Celaena, we killed Farren. The dirtiest man who had ever lived. A sadist. I can manage drunks"

"I know you can…" she said "I don't know if I can"

"If you wish, Celaena, I will search for the Assassin's Guild and we'll ask to join them. But I know how much you don't want to be an assassin anymore. So I want you to think better about this. You must know I'm okay with the fighting pit, and that I'm safe. If we're doing this, if we are going to look to the Assassin's Guild it's going to be all for you"

"Okay" she said between breaths "I'll reconsider"

"Good" he said, and pulled an arm around her. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

"I love you" he said, but she just kept her eyes closed trying to go to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Celaena was up on her feet the next morning before the sun could even rise. Sam was mumbling something in his sleep when she changed from her night gown to her black tunics and put on her savage boots. She braided beautifully her hair before she'd done anything else, and then she took the vase of the top of the highest closet in the kitchen and took off some common money for the southern continent. She putted on her pocket and walked out of the door.

The city market was beginning to open. Celaena could see the sellers walking out of their homes to arm the tents where they'd put out whatever they were selling. It had crossed her mind to start hunting and selling in the market in order to keep living, instead of Sam fighting or they becoming assassins again, but no. It was to humiliating. She was Adarlan's Assassin no matter where she was, and becoming a seller in a small city in the southern continents? No thank you, Celaena would rather leave alone in the woods hunting her on food than becoming that.

She wondered if becoming a seller had ever crossed Sam's mind. If he thought the same thing as her… She wondered what he'd think if someday she would walk in the door to their small apartment and Sam would bring it up the idea of becoming a seller and she'd say no. She'd have to tell him the reason. That she felt _humiliated._ How would that go?

She stepped onto the tent of an old lady who was selling some kind of special herbs and peanuts. She got some of the coins out of her pocket and extended her arm to the seller. She smiled kindly and gave the usual package with dozen of those plants and peanuts to her. Celaena smiled back and thanked her, before leaving to go to the next tent.

She adjusted, with no apparent reason, her hood, to keep her face hidden in the shadows. It was habit. A habit she wasn't ready to let it go. It was weird walking down the streets of that small city and everybody looking, processing the image of the face of a girl, knowing her. If they knew they were seeing the face of Celaena Sardothien, Adarlan' Assassin, they'd shit their beds.

The next tent was a child who was selling rice and beans, originated from the very land they were. Better yet, from the small city they were. The culinary here was so peculiar that in her first day in the southern continents, Celaena wouldn't leave the bathroom and threatened to gut Sam if he'd ever opened the door or tell anyone about it. His response was a laugh that made her flicker her bones from anger. She bought the rice and beans and moved on.

Celaena bought everything that she thought it was digestible and got out of the market before it was too crowded. But she didn't make her way back to the apartment. She circled the limits of the city and went into the woods, leaving her bags on the spot she'd hidden her archery. She had made it the second day they were here, but Sam never knew about it. Now was the day that he'd know. She wasn't caring at all. They needed something decent to at least _dine_.

She spotted a duck right after she adjusted the weapon in her hands. She lifted her hands aiming to the creature that was flying alone. It was in its eyes before it could even blink. It had fallen almost on her feet.

"Damn duck, you better be good" She said to herself and putted the animal into a bag. When she walked home, she wondered why in hell a duck was flying alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Celaena Sardothien yet took a while to get back to the apartment. She walked the limits of the city of Oreja, carrying all the bags and watching while the sun established its place in the sky. She felt the wind blowing on her face, getting some golden thread of her hair out of her braid.

Celaena hated the climate of here. For the two weeks since they'd been in the city, it was all a mangled thing. For the first three days the sun was shining so much she thought her skin was going to toast. Sam had reached an amazing tan, making him look more beautiful than he already was. And then, for the rest of the week, it was all rain and winds. A lazy day following another lazy day, which, by the way, felt really nice since she and Sam kept hugging each other for all afternoons in hope to get extra warm. It was either in the bed, while falling asleep or in the couch of the living room, while they read her books in front of the little fireplace. Or making out in both of the areas of the little apartment of theirs, which was located on a hill in the ending zone of Oreja. Celaena thought about how she could thank the cold sometime, when all this rage of the southern continents went away.

The next week, it continued rain and cold for at least four or five days. It wasn't until yesterday that the sun started rising and shining, and warming everything that its rays touched. Now, in this morning Celaena could feel it would be a calm day. The sun wouldn't burn that much, and winds would dance around Oreja. Celaena prayed that it'd continue like this forever. This was a climate she enjoyed.

She spotted her apartment a few feet away and she could tell she was already far from the people and closer to him. She liked like this. All the peace and calm for her and Sam to live.

They'd found this apartment on the ship that had brought them here. Sam had made some – you could say – _friends_ , and they talked and talked until Sam blurted out that they had yet no place to live once they got there. So it happens that one of this _friend_ s of Sam was daughter of the owner of a series of apartments along the limits of Oreja. And she made a really, but really nice price for Celaena and Sam to move in. Celaena hated her. Celaena insisted in paying what really was worth it, until Sam convinced her that they should get the really _generous_ offer that Ophelia was presenting to them. Since that day, she made sure that whenever Ophelia showed up in the apartment to inspect she'd be holding, or kissing, Sam.

Sam enjoyed the situation. He'd told her a million times that she didn't need to get jealous. The thing is, she believed she wasn't. Celaena trusted Sam with her life, and she knew he always used his beauty to get whatever he wanted, just like she did. That was just one of those times. The problem was those girls… the problem was Ophelia, who knew about her but didn't hide to show how much interested she was in Sam. So disrespectful that Celaena wanted to shatter her into pieces. And then shatter the pieces until it was dust, and if it was possible, she'd shatter the dust as well. Sam laughed every time she'd say that and would tell her that he couldn't stand Ophelia as much as she didn't, but it was nice to keep her around in case of needing something. Celaena knew he was right. She knew but yet… if Ophelia dared to make one bold move, she'd be dead before she could even breath again.

"I know you're gonna get mad, but I can't stand the culinary of here" that was her way of announcing she was home. She got into the apartment with the bags and dumped them all into the small table of the kitchen. Sam was there, without his shirt, just the way he'd gotten to bed last night, drinking some water. His face was confused until she dumped, at last, the dead duck.

"You went _hunting_?"

"I know you like ducks" she said sitting and opening a jar of jam.

"I like them alive" he said sitting beside her and sharing the jam. They both didn't care with using a plate or silverware. They were both using their fingers to eat the jam right out of the jar.

"Really? I hate them alive. They look much cuter dead, where they can't 'QUACK' you around"

Sam let out a low, raspy laugh and then he met her eyes. His gaze told her everything. He was asking how she hunted the duck.

"I made myself an arrow the second day we moved in here. In case we had to use it"

"Celaena, no one is coming for us…" this was a discussion they already had had in the ship. She was worried. They had killed the crime lord. It wasn't an impossible idea that someone would want vengeance and track them down. But Sam was positive that that wasn't going to happen. She had made the bow and arrow just in case. In case they had to escape the apartment and leave everything behind. Some part of her was yet afraid of killing someone of that high importance, even if it was satisfactory that all Rifthold underworld knew she was the one who did it. Adarlan's Assassin.

"I know" she didn't know "But it makes me feel safe"

"Ok" he said "If it makes you feel safe, than makes me feel safe too" he gave her a glance of a smile and held her hand on the table. For a moment, they gazed each other, and she admired his eyes. And then he leaned his neck, finding her lips with his.

He kept it soft, a romantic and kind kiss, in the beginning. Usually, it was always like this in the start. But then he would low his lips to her neck and the up of her ears. She'd shiver every time he'd do that. She danced her fingers in his bare chest, in his back, in his hair. She'd dance her fingers into the beginning of his pants, but never gesturing to take it off.

Sam lifted her from the chair. His hands were on her waist and he worked her legs around his own waist. She was sitting in his lap and was her time to play with him. Because she was on his lap, she was higher than him so she leaned in to kiss his ears, kiss the back of his neck, kiss his chest, and finally find his lips again.

He dared to put his hands under her black tunic. She let him. She had let him do a lot more than that, but yet they didn't got to the place where she could be able to remove all clothing. Not yet. She wasn't ready. She hadn't adjusted her life and she felt like she needed to go back in tracks before anything else changed.

So when his hands found her chest, she moved away. He got the message. Not today. So he went back to her legs, and kept kissing her. Now, in a more desperate way, like her lips were air and he needed to breath.


	4. Chapter 4

Celaena was reading her book next to the little fireplace when Sam walked out of the room. He was wearing a dark green tunic, combat boots and gloves. He was stunning. Celaena looked at the window, seeing the purple sky telling that the sun was going down. Winds were calmly blowing, entering the apartment through the window, making the flames of the fire dance.

"Is it time already?" she asked him. Sam nodded, still working on the buttons of his tunic and walking his way to the kitchen. Celaena jumped the couch and followed him.

"Don't go" she whispered, kinda hoping he wouldn't listen. But he did. He looked at her.

"Celaena…"

"I thought about it, okay?" She said, gesturing aggressively her hands. She started walking in circles around the kitchen table, stressed "and I can't stand you fighting in that pit! You're Sam Cortland!"

"Yeah… I know that" he said sarcastically, trying to make a joke of the situation but she was pissed.

"You are Sam Cortland. Second best of the King of Assassins. You can't be working in a trash!"

"What?!" Sam got close to her "We left that life behind us Celaena. I'm not the second best, you're not his protegée. We're not Adarlan's Assassin anymore. We're not even in Adarlan, Celaena. We're just Sam and Celaena".

She breathed hardly. Those words he'd just said. They all hit her like a punch in the face with her own knives. He was right. He was damn right. And worst of all, to begin everything, she was the one who freed them. She was the one who paid hers and Sam's debt to Arobynn. She was the one who chose to leave the King of Assassins, and the Assassin's Keep. So why was it being so damn hard to do it? She couldn't bear the thought of leaving her name behind. Adarlan's Assassin. She was Adarlan's Assassin. That was all she was. That was her identity.

Now she was no one.

So she busted into tears.

"Celaena?" Sam asked her, he was holding her head with his hands while she cried. And she couldn't help herself but cry. And she couldn't think of why she was crying, she was just… crying. Because she couldn't be Celaena Sardothien if she wasn't going to be an assassin. That name was given to her because of what she was to become, nine years ago. And she couldn't… she couldn't… Gods, she couldn't even bring herself to say who she was before those nine years because she was a coward and she wanted to leave it all behind.

So, even if being with Sam, and being away from Arobynn had pleased her, and gods it had pleased her, she couldn't help herself to think that now she was no one.

"Please, don't go" she implored to him, between breaths. Sam now was all she had from a life. He was the remaining of an identity of hers. The identity that she was for nine years and one day she paid to not be her no more. If anything happened to Sam, she'd be no one for good. Forever.

That scared her.

"I have to go…" he was caressing her head.

"No, please!" she almost yelled.

"Celaena, calm down" he backed down. He looked at her, head to toe. "What's wrong with you?"

She stopped crying. She looked at him, seeing his confused eyes staring back at her. She took a deep breath and walked to the front door, ignoring Sam. She turned the key, opening the door and then she took the key, walked out of the apartment and locked the door. Then she throw the key in her pocket and started walking down the stairs. She heard Sam yelling and hitting the door, ordering her to open it. She ignored him.

She stopped in the middle of the stairs when she heard him shouting one thing to her.

"You know I can simply jump from the windows, right?"

She shot running up the stair and unlocked the door so quickly she thought she'd broke the key. She stormed into the apartment but Sam was just sitting in the kitchen balcony. He ran towards the door but she blocked it.

"Celaena, let me get out"

"No" she simply replied.

She turned to lock the door again, but he grabbed her shoulder. Bold move. She grabbed his arm and twisted, and then threw him away. Sam hit the ground harshly. She turned back to the door and locked it before he could grab her feet and pushed her to the floor. The key was still on the lock.

He was on his feet, ready to run towards the door but she put her left foot in his way. Sam had managed to jump it but she was up and jumping at the same time, grabbing his hips and going down to the floor again. He had fallen on top of her, and she rolled so he'd be down, and punched his face with all the strength she found. She was lucky to hit the bruise on his eyebrow, because it would hurt more. She, then, stormed off to the door and got the key from the lock, throwing on her pocket.

She felt a kick on her back. Sam was sitting but within half a second he was already up. He throw a punch but she ducked and took the opportunity of ducking to go running down his opened legs and crossing the living room where the first window was opened. She closed it and locked it. She later would have to _thank_ Ophelia for making her father sell them a master key apartment. Also thank Sam for thinking that they'd only need one key. Sam was already running after her on their little apartment but she was faster. She got into the room and locked the window. When she was out, she was knocked on the ground by a punch. She still had the key on her hand though.

"Give me the key, Celaena, gods damn it!" he offered his hand for her to go up, saying that he didn't want to fight. She accepted. With the impulse, she throw a kick with both legs onto his stomach, and then one last between his legs. Sam groaned. She got up and ran into the kitchen, locking the last window.

"You'll have to break it all if you want to get out. Good luck telling Ophelia that"

Sam still was groaning and yelling her name, but he couldn't move from the pain. Celaena quickly was out of the apartment, locking again the door and running down the stairs.


	5. Chapter 5

Celaena didn't make her way down to the city. Instead, she went down the other side of the hills and followed the trail until she got at the shores. She watched the ships sailing away and sailing back. She watched the sun met the ground completely, making it all looks dark. It was a starless night. Only a half moon to illuminate the arounds, and the dock lights, the ships lights, and their noises. Their unstoppable noises Celaena hated so much.

She took off her boots and felt the sand between her fingers. She walked, and walked, blocking any thought, blocking any feeling that was in her way, in her mind, in her heart. She just walked, and watched the view.

She walked until she felt the waters on her feet. Those salty waters. It remembered her of her fight with Sam back in Skull's bay, when they hated each other. It was so much easier. So much simpler. They hated each other. They were assassins, and they were someone. They had a family, a place.

Hate was so much simple than love.

Because now, now with love, they don't have anything other than love. She knew that if she talked to Sam about that, he'd say love is all he needed. She was all he needed. Sam Cortland only needed Celaena Sardothien.

But what about her? Was that enough? She needed something to be. Love could be that? Could love be something for her to be?

Could a fragile human life, be all she'd be? Because in that moment it was. Sam was all _she_ was. Was all she could think that the name Celaena Sardothien had brought her that was still here, with her, so yes… Sam was her identity.

If something happened to Sam… she'd be lost. She'd be totally, completely, mindless and insanely lost. Nothing could never ever happen to Sam.

That's why they needed to find the Assassin's Guild.

Sam needed to be safe, and he'd be safe there. Just like they were safe in the Assassin's Keep, back in Adarlan. And she could guarantee that. She could protect him there. They could make their missions together. She'd demand that to the master, and if he'd ever be in danger, she'd slaughter who ever, _whatever_ , put him in that position.

With that thought, she marched back onto their apartment.

"Good" she said entering "you're still here"

Sam was lying on the couch, staring and the ceiling.

"You didn't gave me much choice, did you?"

"I told you, you could break the windows"

"And then pay with what money the damages?"

"The money we get when we join the Assassin's Guild of the southern continents"

Sam was immediately sitting on the couch, staring back at her. He had bruises all over his face. She felted some little pain in her left eye but it never occurred to her that she also had bruises in her own face.

'Caused by love.

"What?"

"I want that" she crossed her arms.

"Celaena…" he said, standing up and walking to the bedroom where she now was, getting rid of her tunics, staying only in her underpants and letting go of that fact that that was probably the much skin Sam had ever seen of her.

He gasped.

"I want that and you're not going back to that pit. Ever again"

"I know. I'm fired already" he said. She wanted to ask him why but she already knew why. Sam had told her when he got the job that the owner warned him that if he'd ever missed a fight, he'd needn't to bother coming back the next day.

"Good" she said putting on her night gown and unbraiding her hair "now we both need to look for it. Fast. Tomorrow morning we leave early"

He shook his head in disapproval. She didn't care. She got under the blankets and laid her head on the pillow, staring and the window.

She heard Sam getting out of the bedroom. She prepared to hear the doors of the apartment opening and closing as he left, but she only heard the lights of the kitchen being turned on. She closed her eyes, breathing harshly, trying to make her heart to calm down, and tried falling asleep.

She felt the warm skin of Sam as he lay beside her on the bed. He passed a hand under her hips and held her tight against his stomach. He caressed her golden hairs and then went to her nape. She felt his warmed and soft lips meeting her skin, heating the top of her shoulder. She felt guilty.

Sam, in spite of fighting and yelling to her, still was here, crazy in love with her. He was going to do whatever she wanted to, deep down she knew that. He said he'd follow her to hell if it was needed.

"Sam…" she said in a low whisper "I… I'm sorry"

"It's okay" he said, yet with his lips in her skin. He was kissing all the way of her arms "We'll look for the Assassin's Guild first thing tomorrow".

She grabbed his hand strongly and fiercely. She rolled her head to meet his eyes. They were shining brightly, possibly illuminating all the room around them. Celaena knew that wasn't possible but to her, they were.

"I know you want an answer about why…"

"You'll give me an answer when you're ready to give me an answer. I don't wanna push anything out of you"

She smiled kindly, thinking what she had done to deserve someone like him. Nothing crossed her mind.

"Do you have any idea how much I love you?"

He asked her, raising his brows.

Her response was raising her head, her lips meeting his.


End file.
